No Longer Human
Osamu Dazai · 1909–1948 · Japan
Originally Ningen Shikkaku (Japanese) · translated by Donald Keene
Why it matters
Three notebooks by a man who performs humanity without ever feeling entitled to it. Japan's perennial bestseller of alienation: Dazai drowned himself the year it appeared, sealing book and life together.
At a glance
psychological novelautobiographical fiction
Difficulty 4/10medium pace177 pagesDirect confessional voice; difficulty is emotional and thematic, not syntactic.
Deep dive
The three photographs a stranger describes before the notebooks even begin, and why Dazai frames Yozo's confession as evidence handed over by somebody else entirely.
Where to go next
Osamu Dazai · 1947The Setting SunLvl 4Slow burn
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa · 1915Rashōmon and Other StoriesLvl 5Fast paced
Kenzaburō Ōe · 1964A Personal MatterLvl 5Medium pace
Yukio Mishima · 1956The Temple of the Golden PavilionLvl 6Slow burn
Yasunari Kawabata · 1947Snow CountryLvl 5Slow burn
Natsume Sōseki · 1914KokoroLvl 4Medium pace